Special sport shoe for people with high insteps



T. M. ADAMS 3,546,796

SPECIAL SPORT SHOES FOR PEOPLE WITH HIGH INSTEPS Dec. 15, 1970 Filed April 21, 1969 THOMAS M. ADAMS,

INVENTOR. BY 77; 5. 571% ATTORNEY United States atent 3,546,796 SPECIAL SPORT SHOE FOR PEOPLE WITH HIGH INSTEPS Thomas M. Adams, 211 W. Lola, #2, Austin, Tex. 78753 Filed Apr. 21, 1969, Ser. No. 817,794 Int. Cl. A431) U.S. Cl. 362.5 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A specially constructed sport shoe for people with high insteps with a divided vamp to relieve the strain when the foot is bent and having separate upper and lower laces so that the lower part of the shoe can be tied securely while the upper part of the shoe is laced to the comfort requirements of the wearer.

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in footwear such as the type of canvas athletic shoes customarily worn while playing tennis. Further, this invention relates to a method of securing a tight fitting shoe for persons with a high instep and at the same time providing a shoe comfortable enough to be used in athletic competition without permitting the wearer to slip.

PRIOR ART Playing tennis requires a very snug fitting shoe to prevent unnecessary loss of speed or balance and to prevent the player from slipping on sudden turns. To obtain this snug fit, the person with a high instep is forced to tighten the shoe to an extent which causes unnecessary pain, or to wear the shoe more loosely and thus, sacrifice some skill in the playing of games requiring agile footwork. Heretofore, various orthopedic shoes have been designed to correct and nurse abnormalities of the human foot, but these have been correctional in nature and were not designed or well adapted for use in athletic competition.

Special shoes have been designed to hold the shoe more securely on the foot, such as those used in football, track, and skiing. Still other specially designed shoes give extra support to sprained ankles or other parts of the foot. These, however, all involve extra fasteners or padding which would further the distress of the high instep rather than help it.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION It is therefore an object of this invention to design a low quarter popular style sport shoe that can be worn by people with high insteps and that will still fit sulliciently securely on the players foot as to make it possible for the wearer to engage in tennis and fast athletic competition.

Another object of this invention is to provide an athletic shoe that will permit freedom of action with a secure fit for athletes with high insteps by providing the shoe with two fastening areas, one near the toe which can be tightened for secure fit, and a second separate means of lacing or fastening the upper part of the shoe over the instep that can be separately laced to the comfort requirements of the wearer.

A still further objective is to make the invention adaptable to conventional athletic shoe manufacturing processes so that the improvement can be used with only a minor change in standard production techniques and with minimum cost.

Another object is to make the shoe adaptable to other sports and other styles of shoes so that the person with 3,546,796 Patented Dec. 15, 1970 ice DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an oblique top view of a laced canvas athletic shoe of the type used in playing tennis. It embodies one variation of this invention in which the upper and lower vamp sections of the shoe are separated by a V-shaped slit.

FIG. 2 is an oblique top view of a laced canvas athletic shoe of the type used in playing tennis, but embodying a second variation of the invention.

In describing one selected form or preferred embodiment of this invention as shown in the drawings and described in this specification, specific terms and components are used for clarity. However, it is not intended to limit the claimed invention to the specific form, components or construction shown and it is to be understood that the specific terms used in this illustration of the invention are intended to include all technical equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION Referring to the specific embodiment of the invention selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings, the shoe is basically constructed according to presently established principles and styles of manufacturing low quarter canvas athletic shoes. Both versions of the shoe illustrated in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 of the drawings have a basic or standard sole 11 made of any suitable materialbut customarily the soles of tennis and sporting shoes are made of rubber and provided with a friction surface. Both versions of the shoe are provided with a toe cap 12 and where required with toe guard 13 along the front edge of sole 11. A conventional style tongue 21 extends upward from toe cap 12 and the shoes are provided with left and right side quarters 14 and 14 which are brought together in a conventional heel 22. Said side quarters are attached to the sole of said shoes in the conventional manner by any of the customary or standard techniques with the forward part of said side quarters or side portions of the shoes adapted to overlay tongue 21 and adapted to overlay the instep and forward parts of the foot of a person wearing said shoes.

The forward part of said side quarter or side portion of said shoe, the part that overlays the arch of the foot, will be referred to herein as the vamp section and in the case of the sport shoe disclosed by this invention said vamp section is divided into a forward or lower vamp section 16-16 overlaying that part of the foot where the toes join the forward end of the foot and an upper vamp section 1717. Eyelets 15 are provided along the inside margins of said upper and lower vamp sections so that the eyelets on the left vamp sections lay opposite the eyelets on the right vamp sections of said shoe. Lower vamp sections 16-16 are laced tightly by lower lace 19 to compel the shoe to fit tightly and conform to the forward and toe section of the wearers foot. Upper vamp sections 1717 which overlay the arch of the foot are provided with separate laces 20 which may be laced to the comfort requirements of the wearer since the tightness or looseness of upper vamp section 1717 does not affect the tightness of the shoes across the toes and the forward part of the foot.

As shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings herein the division of the vamp portion of the shoe is divided into lower vamp section 16 and upper vamp section 17 by means of V-shaped slits or openings 18, one on each side of the vamp.

FIG. 2 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention. In this case lower vamp section 16 and upper vamp section 17 are divided into completely separated panels with overlap section 26 of the upper vamp section panel 17 adapted to overlay the upper part 27 of the lower vamp panels. As in the case of the shoe shown in FIG. 1 the two vamp sections can be tied by separate laces 19 and 20 for the convenience of the wearer. It will be appreciated that the alternate version shown in FIG. 2 will provide a neater looking shoe.

In cases where the manufacturer desires to adapt the invention to somewhat more formal shoes for persons with high insteps, V-shaped openings 19 could be filled with an elastic gussett or other ornamental devices to cover the separation of the vamp portion of the shoe into upper and lower Vamps with separate securing means without departing from the spirit of the invention described or claimed herein.

The shoe should of course be finished with the customary lining and cushioned inner sole 23 and any additional features customary or desired in the particular style shoe.

OPERATION In application the foot is placed within the shoe. The lower lace is then tightened sufiiciently to secure the lower foot in the shoe, still allowing for a slight freedom of movement. The upper lace is then tightened, but it can be looser than the lace used to secure the lower foot, and thus the instep is released from the normal pressure that would be applied with the conventional shoe. When the foot is bent, the division of the vamps relieves the strain not only from the instep, but from other parts of the foot that would be under tension if the shoe was not broken at the point of strain.

ADVANTAGES A variety of advantages spring from dividing the vamp section of sport shoes into upper and lower vamp sections as proposed herein. This shoe at last allows the person with a high instep to tie sport shoes tightly enough to fit the toe and forefront of the foot and prevent the wearer from slipping down when making a sudden halt or turn as required in a number of sports including tennis by permitting the wearer to separately lace the front or toe of the shoe tightly for a snug fit without having to bind that part of the shoe over the instep.

The improved shoe, therefore, permits people with high insteps to engage in competitive games requiring agile and quick footwork to a degree that was not previously practical.

By providing two separate securing or lacing areas, the invention provides people with high insteps with a sport shoe that can be laced over the instep to the comfort requirements of the wearer without sacrifiicing a snug fit in the toe area where it is needed for many active sports. The shoe opens up a variety of activities to people with high insteps and can be adapted to other purposes and uses.

Still another advantage lies in the fact that the objectives of the improved shoe described herein are achieved with modifications that are compatible with established styles in low quarter shoes and may be adapted to dress or semi-dress shoes without radical innovations.

In addition the invention is sufficiently compatible with conventional techniques of shoe manufacture as to require only minor changes in standard manufacturing techniques and minimum cost to put the proposed improved shoe into manufacture.

Although this specification describes but a single embodiment of the invention with certain applications thereof, it should be understood that structural or material rearrangements of adequate or equivalent parts, substitutions of equivalent functional elements and other modifications in structure can be made and other applications devised without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. I therefore desire that the description and drawings herein be regarded as only an illustration of my invention and that the invention be regarded as limited only as set forth in the following claims, or as required by the prior art.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A specially constructed low quarter style sport shoe for people with high insteps, said shoe comprising:

(A) a conventional tennis shoe type sole;

(B) a toe cap section;

(C) low quarter style side portions attached to the upper side of said shoe soles and the forward part of said side portions being divided into (1) a lower vamp section,

(2) an upper vamp section, and

(3) a pair of V-s haped openings, between the upper and the lower vamp sections; said V- shaped openings (a) being positioned to lie directly over the instep of the foot, and

(b) to extend transversely across the toeinstep for at least two-thirds the width of the foot;

(D) separate laces for said lower vamp section that can be tied tightly to prevent the wearer from slipping during athletic activities;

(E) separate laces for the upper vamp section so that that part of the shoe overlaying the upper instep of the foot can be tied to the comfort of the wearer;

(F) eyelets along the inner margins of said lower and upper vamp sections through which said shoe laces can be passed;

(G) a front tongue adapted to overlie the forward portion of the foot and to be partly overlapped by the forward parts of said side portions;

(H) the rear end of said upper side portions brought together to form a conventional heel section; and

(I) finished with the customary insole and lining materials.

2. A specially constructed low quarter style sport shoe 45 for people with high insteps, said shoe comprising:

(A) a conventional tennis shoe type sole;

(B) a toe cap section;

(C) low quarter style side portions attached to the upper side of said shoe soles and the forward part of said side portions being divided into (1) a lower vamp section,

(2) an upper vamp section fabricated in the form of a panel adapted to (3) overlay the upper part of the lower vamp sections;

(D) separate laces for said lower vamp section;

(B) separate laces for the upper vamp section;

(F) eyelets along the inner margins of said lower and upper vamp sections through which said shoe laces can be passed;

(G) a front tongue adapted to overlie the forward portion of the foot and to be partly overlapped by the forward parts of. said side portions;

(H) the rear end of said upper side portions brought together to form a conventional heel section; and

(I) finished with the customary insole and lining materials.

3. In an improved semi-therapeutic low quarter style shoe for people with high insteps, said improved shoe comprising:

(A) conventional sole, toe, side quarter, heel and tongue portions with conventional insole and lining materials and eyelets.

(B) said improvement comprising division of the forward part of the side quarters into (1) a separated lower vamp section of said side quarters, (2) a separate upper vamp section of said side quarters, With (a) said separate upper vamp sections of the side quarters of said shoe are formed into panels which, (b) partially overlay the upper ends of said lower vamp sections;

(3) separate lacing means for the lower vamp 10 section of said side quarters so that said upper section of said vamps can be separately laced to the comfort of the wearer.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,022,808 4/1912 Woods 3650 2,253,860 8/1941 Martin 3650 3,193,950 8/1965 Shv-Lien Lou 3650 PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner 

